A loud roaring sound reverberated out and the ground shook forcing him to fully awaken. His instincts told of danger, but he quickly calmed down realizing it was just a storm that awakened him.

You can calm down heart of mine, it’s just a storm. He pulled himself up from the ground noticing Lar standing by a window. Tons of rain ran down the window pane as the occasional bright lightning strike lit up the wet cobbled street outside.

Kiran got up and approached Lar who kept looking out the window. “How long have you been standing here?”

She leaned against the wall as she kept looking out the window. “For just a little while”

“We’ve been here for several days now and you’re still feeling wary, eh?”

“I’m just surprised I seem to be the only one who feels this way.” Whatever reason she had for feeling the way she did towards Lucias mattered little when no one else perceived anything untoward from them.

“You must be tired. If you want I’ll keep an eye out for you.”

“That’s not necessary.” She might’ve not been completely exhausted but those eyes of hers appeared tired enough to warrant her to sleep a bit.

The rain began to pick up. Sheets of it slammed against the window completely obscuring the outside with more and more lightning strikes.

Since he was still tired, he decided to rest a bit longer. When he awoke, there was no sign of a storm any longer and neither was Lar standing beside the window. She instead was sleeping beside him on the ground.

He carefully got up in a way that wouldn’t wake her. He then went outside with an eagerness to explore the city a little. The ground was still wet a little, although, due to how they were in the upper parts of the city and the way the streets sloped a bit, most of the rainwater had flowed away from these parts.

While he thought about where exactly he should go, he decided that he should go find a blacksmith. He had been carrying the same sword since he fought in the arena and it needed a bit of work done. He could always acquire another sword, but their supplies were limited meaning if he could get it repaired, that would be ideal.

As he stood outside the building he had been sleeping in and thought about which direction to go, someone at the furthest edge of his peripheral vision appeared. At first he didn’t recognize the woman but a split second later it registered.

“I nearly didn’t recognize you Juna. What happened to your hair?”

“Oh, this?” She lifted a hand touching the edges of her hair that were far shorter than before. She had kept her hair quite long but for one reason or another chose to cut it short. “I don’t really know why I cut my hair. I guess I just sort of felt like doing it. Do you think it looks good?”

“I think it fits you.” It wasn’t overly short or anything like that. It just didn’t go down to her shoulders as it otherwise would or have the length of a long ponytail that she normally kept it in.

“I seem to remember you having pretty long hair when I first met you.”

“That’s right,” he said. “It was pretty long back then. It’s starting to get long again but it’ll be a while until it’s that long.”

She smiled a bit. “Are you planning to go somewhere or are you heading back in?”

“I was planning on exploring a little to see more of the city.”

“Do you mind if I come with you?”

“Not at all. The more the merrier!”

Juna seemed to be in a better mood today. She wasn’t the exact same as she had been before, but still progressed in a positive direction from what he could tell.

As they both chose to walk off to begin their bit of exploration together, the door to the building a lot of their people had been staying in suddenly cracked open.

“Thinking of leaving me behind huh?”

“I’m sorry, I thought you were asleep.”

“I was,” Lar said giving him an intense glare.

“I promise I wasn’t planning on abandoning you if that’s what you were thinking.”

“Oh shut up.” She planted a hefty fist onto his shoulder with an eagerness to go with them.

The three of them headed off to explore and find a blacksmith at the same time. Unlike the previous days, not as many people were out and about.

Eventually, they came to a stop as he spotted a wooden sign outside of a building with an anvil on it. There’s one. They walked inside just happening to spot a black-cloaked person with their backs turned to them near the counter.

They turned around pulling their hood back. He was somewhat surprised to find that it was in fact Silvy. “What are you three doing here?”

“I could ask the same of you,” he said approaching her. “I’m just needing some work done to the sword I’ve been carrying around.”

While using a physical sword was in many ways similar to the ones he used to be able to summon, it just wasn’t the same. They were heavier and not quite to the exact proportions that he had gotten used to. Until he could summon them again however, he had no choice but to haul one around.

“Say, where’s the smithy?

“I don’t know. I’ve been waiting here for a bit hoping someone would come out.”

“Did you try yelling?”

“No,” Silvy said.

“Is anyone there?” Kiran said loudly enough so that his voice may reach towards the back rooms behind the counter.

At first nothing responded back. But something did in fact begin to motion around in one of the lit back rooms. “Give me a moment!”

He felt relieved that someone was there. He needed to get the sword worked on. It did him no good to have a blade that might not perform to the task when needed.

While they waited, he couldn’t help but observe the mounted weapons, armor, shields, and tools on the walls. They appeared well-made, especially the armor. They had ornate designs etched into them such as a spiraling serpent at the center of a breastplate.

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“Sorry for making you wait. I have a real grouch back there that keeps me busy.” The tall and somewhat muscular man began to laugh a little. The man wore an apron over their body. They were also bald with a big black beard with some gray in it.

A woman who happened to be taller than the blacksmith walked out with fumes practically exiting out her ears. “Where do you think you’re going Robby? I wasn’t through dealin’ with you back there.”

“Quieten down,” he said whilst furrowing his brows towards her. “I’m trying to help some customers, customers of which that are rare to come by! Go back in that dingy room and let me do my job.”

She put her hands on her hips. “You’d talk to me that way in front of others? Who do you even think you are?”

“For the love of—” He pressed a palm into his face. “You’re going to make me start cursing. Just go will ya, before I start to regret what I say next!”

Dear me. What have we walked into? A couple of bickering souls was not what he expected when he came inside this shop.

This woman—who Kiran figured was Robby’s wife—strode away angrily tapping those feet of hers harshly against the dingy wood floor. And strangely enough, she was even larger than him.

“Sorry, about that,” Robby said rubbing the back of his head. “She’s a bit of a handful at times. You managed to catch us at a bad time during one of our daily arguments.”

“Daily arguments?” Silvy said.

“That’s right. I’m not much of the arguing type so I try to get out of it but she’s a real arguer that one. I still love her even if I sometimes think of doing rather crude things to her.” He managed to laugh only to receive stares from them. He cleared his throat and went around the front counter. “So, uh, what can I do for you three? It’s not every day I get a customer, let alone multiple! Business is quite slow these days. Well, actually they’ve been slow for over a decade if I’m to be honest with you.”

Kiran grabbed his sheathed sword. He pulled the sword out putting it on the table. The blacksmith took hold of it lifting it into the air. “I need some repairs done. I was wondering if you could get it into better condition.”

“Of course. That’s what I do best. It doesn’t look like it needs too much done. Looks like the blade could use a bit of fixing and some new leather straps around the hilt.” They kept examining the sword trying to get a full grasp of its condition and what all it might need. “I’ll be warning you though, it’ll take a least a week until it’s done.”

“I can afford to wait.”

“Excellent.”

“What’s your price?” he said realizing he had no money. Ah, I forgot. I haven’t had any money since I went through that portal. “Do you take things other than money?”

“Actually,” Robby muttered, “money doesn’t go very far here in Valak. We’re much more interested in other physical things you have to offer. If you have anything other than coin to trade, I’d be more than happy to accept that assuming I find it valuable enough.”

Thankfully he was willing to accept other things than money considering he had none whatsoever to speak of. He tried thinking of what he might have that he could trade and not feel bad giving up. After struggling a bit, he decided to grab an extra sheathed dagger he kept. He handed it over to the blacksmith who eagerly examined it.

“Will this cover the cost?”

For a moment he thought he would turn down his offer and demand something else. But instead, he thrust out his hand eager to shake in agreement. “Aye. This’ll do.”

They shook hands formalizing their arrangement.

“Come back in a week. It could take a little longer but I doubt it.”

After Silvy made her own requests and haggled for a dozen or so minutes, they left the blacksmith’s shop heading back outside as a group of four.

Silvy pointed to their left towards a leftward street. An older gray-haired woman spoke to a group of guards pointing in their direction. The guards who wore a mix of leather and chainmail armor quickened their pace towards them.

“Should we run?” Lar said.

“That’s probably not a good idea,” Kiran replied feeling everything growing tense suddenly. Not only have I given up my sword, but I’ve also given up my dagger. If things are to get ugly, I’ve made the biggest mistake in my life literally just seconds ago.

An older male at least twice his age physically held their hands behind their back. They wore deep green regal clothing that befits a noble individual. Armored guards surrounded them and they all kept intense glares on all four of them. “You’re all to come with us.”

“Is something the matter?” Silvy asked.

“Don’t speak. Just follow.”

The four of them eyed each other wary of what was going on. Something must’ve happened and the question was what that would end up being.

Without wishing to get in a brawl or end up dead on the street—especially considering he just gave up his weapons and he couldn’t summon a sword—he did as the man suggested and followed them. If things got bad enough, he would just have to use his soul even though he hoped he’d never have the need to again.

Armored guards or soldiers surrounded them from the front and rear along with the sides. Some of them wielded spears while some wielded swords.

Their journey led them towards the highest point within the city reaching the keep.

Lots of light spilled out of the keep. The two bears standing guard outside eyed them with far more intense glares than when he first visited the keep days ago.

Not a single voice spoke aloud as they entered. A warm tense presence occupied this space as the throne was unseated and many other members within the coalition stood beside one another towards the left side of this enlarged chamber with plenty of armored guards or soldiers all around. It appeared as well that none of the Human Familiar Coalition people were armed.

Kiran along with Juna, Silvy, and Lar who were all supposed to go on an exploratory journey through Valak found themselves instead here with Rinas and the other faction leaders in attendance.

A new figure who he hadn’t seen before stood inside as well. It was a giant white bear standing more off to the side within the darkness that the candlelights inside couldn’t quite reach. Their eyes were a yellowish orange and quite intense. He couldn’t tell if they wanted to send those big bear arms of theirs into their flesh or if they just happened to look that way regardless of what was going on.

Either way, he avoided any further eye contact with the white bear and focused on looking towards the rear of the chamber where the throne was. The regal man who escorted them began whispering in a person’s ear. They walked off only to return several minutes later with Lucias strolling in.

He eyed them all as he took a seat on his throne. “Tell me Welman, what could possibly be so important that you needed to pull me here and them as well? I’ll have you know, that I was experiencing some of the best sleep of my life so I hope you have a good reason for this.”

The one who escorted them who apparently went by the name of Welman lowered their head briefly out of respect for the one they served. “I apologize for having your sleep disrupted but you are urgently needed for a matter that has begun to unravel in Valak.”

It appeared quite evident that Lucias was not one who liked having their sleep disrupted. He appeared noticeably agitated and tired with dark bags beneath his eyes. He let out a yawn and leaned back on his throne. “Then tell me then of what exactly the problem is.”

“Our guests, it appears, have been quite busy since their arrival. Unfortunately, we have only discovered what they’ve been up to today.”

Up to what? What exactly does he think we’ve been doing?

“Get to the point Welman.”

The man cleared his throat and looked at them all dead in the eye. “A slew of gruesome murders have been occurring throughout the city since their arrival. I can say with absolute certainty that someone or multiple people within their ranks are responsible for these egregious actions. I would suggest having them all arrested immediately so that we can put a stop to these heinous actions.”

Lar muttered something quietly enough that he wasn’t able to decipher it.

Well, this certainly isn’t good at all. If someone or a group of people that they brought into Valak were going around murdering people, that would pose a serious problem for them all for obvious reasons. And depending on who Lucias was as a person, it could end up with them all in serious trouble.

His body tensed up and he knew, that there was little that he would be able to do. All he could do at this moment was stand there and await the struggle that was about to unravel.